Alicia Wallace – The Denver Post
October 6, 2017
Cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive cannabis compound touted for its medicinal promise, but marijuana and hemp-derived extracts rich in CBD and low in intoxicating THC are facing a future yet to be determined.
This time next year, an investigational drug hailed as a breakthrough in the science of cannabidiol could be prescribed to children suffering from treatment-resistant epilepsy.
The prospect of its success, however, has caused some unease in the American hemp industry.
London-based GW Pharmaceuticals is steering its proprietary Epidiolex oral solution through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval pipeline.
Unlike other FDA-approved drugs that emulate the properties of THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, Epidiolex utilizes another of the plant’s compounds: non-psychoactive cannabidiol. GW’s pharmaceutical formulation of purified CBD is targeted for treating rare, early onset seizure disorders including Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes, as well as Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and Infantile Spasms.